Published in 1943, this is the story of Dunnian House in the Scottish borders and its inhabitants, the Dunne family. It opens with old Celia looking back on 90 years in the house and then follows the fortunes of her inheritors and their relationships with the other local families. There’s a poor relation, a faithful retainer and a wise gardener to enjoy reading about, as well as the children of the house and their suitors and loves. Reminds me a bit of Francis Brett Young (which is probably why Ali loved it too) in the marrying of lovely and loving descriptions of the countryside and of the inhabitants.

Utterly charming – they don’t make books like this any more. It’s the kind of thing the "House at Riverton" style writers are trying to do, but the originals are the best, I’m afraid.

This was originally a loan from Ali, hence reading it soon after acquisition; however, she has managed to source a non-BookCrossing copy for herself so I’ll release this one instead of returning it to her.

Like a Richard Curtis film, this book about three sisters and their various maternity issues rings through all the possible changes and tugs at all the possible heartstrings, while remaining just that bit too calculating – not exactly heartless, but a bit cold-hearted. But it passed the journey home from our holiday well enough!

An amazing book based on real events when Tindall found a cache of old letters in a house in a French village, mainly asking for a woman’s, Celestine’s, hand in marriage in the 1860s. Knowing Celestine’s grand-daughter lived in the village, she traces the interconnecting relationships between the villagers, the landscape, and wider French history, right up to their present-day lives in the village. Wonderful – warm and rich and the village seems really similar to the one we’ve been staying in, if in a different area.

Interesting business autobiography of the man who was CEO of GE for the 20 years up to 2001. A lot of interesting detail about the battles for succession at the beginning and end of his reign, and some good stuff about some innovative but slightly scary business ideas. Not much personal stuff but that’s par for the course with this kind of book.

Iris Murdoch is at the height of her powers in this wonderful portrait of Ennistone, the spa town that goes a bit mad every now and then. Full of linked characters and families (making it reminiscent of Middlemarch in my opinion) and with the excellent invisible narrator N, this is my favourite IM novel still, I think. I have re-read this one a number of times and remembered it well, wlthough I had events in a slightly different order.

Ideal holiday reading, this is the slightly oddly (but lyrically) written account of a retired English couple taking their narrowboat and whippet from the Midlands to Carcassonne, via the Channel and all sorts of other rather alarming adventures. The style might be odd but the subject matter is engaging, especially if you know boats a little, and read-out-loud funny in many places. Pleasingly, there is a flamingo-viewing scene in Palavas-les-Flots, somewhere we have visited ourselves.

Yup, read out of order. Couldn’t wait that long to catch up with the adventures of Brenda & Effie!

It’s hard to review these books without giving away the plot. So all I’ll say is that we have more classic adventures, giggles and oohs and aahs as we meet characters old and new, spend more time with Sheila Manchu, and decide who is going to Hell! In a departure from the first two books, this is written by a narrator rather than in Brenda’s words, but this gives us more of an insight into other characters’ thoughts and feelings.